P4S533 Overclocking Issue

[TommyDee291]

Hi, I am new to this forum and to overclocking. However, I have been doing significant research for about a week now regarding overclocking. So I decided to go ahead and give it a try. I have often read that the P4S533 M/B is highly Overclockable. I am running a Pentium 4 1.8a processor on this M/B. I went into the bios, and overclocked gradually. I went to 1.9, 2.0, 2.1, and 2.25. I also increased my voltage to 1.575 when I was running at 2.25 Ghz. I also was running a 3:4 ratio. Although, I will admit, i don't completely understand. I booted into windows successfully at 2.25 Ghz and didn't think to run a stabilty tests. I ran my usual programs when Windows XP popped up a balloon saying that data is corrupted and unreadable in one of my drives. I have 4 Harddrives. I had to backup my data and format the drive and restore the data on that drive. At that particular time, my overclocking did not come to mind to cause this issue. The error message did not appear on any of my other drives and I did not lose any data on any other drives. However, I did notice, when I was at 2.0, that I did not get any error messages. I would like to know why my one drive corrupted itself after an overclock at 2.25 ghz. If it helps, I believe I was using a 125 mhz system bus and an 18 multiplier. Thank you in advance, Tom.

 

[larva]

P4S533 poops out after 150 fsb but should be able to take your 1.8a all the way to 2.7GHz if the cpu is any good.

There is no 3:4 multiplier on the SiS chipsets, i845x stuff has that. SiS 645DX has 4:3, 1:1 4:5, and 3:6. If you are running 3:6 you may be exceeding your memory's capabilities, and corrupting the data for that reason.

There is a jumper to increase the ram voltage on the P4S533, try setting it to 2.7V. Set the cpu voltage up to 1.65V. Set the memory to 1:1, and the memory timings to 2.5,4,4,7. Then see how much fsb will work. 133fsb/2.4GHz should be attainable if the chip is any good, but I have seen a 1.8a that would only do 125/2.25. Most will do 133/2.4-150/2.7.

Once you figure out where the cpu lmits you can try the 4:5 or 3:6 memory options. Once you find if either will run successfully work the memory timings down one value at a time. Have you data backed up as you found hitting the limits of the cpu, memory, or motherboard can corrupt any or all data on any or all drives.

 

[TommyDee291]

I believe its not the processor. Although I know processors can be different, even if they are the same model. I've read people getting this processor up near 3 ghz. Also keep in mind I am using Intel Stock Cooling. Is it safe to have the voltage up that high? Keep in mind again, I am on Stock Cooling and I don't want the temps too high. I'll try what you said with the memory. What voltage is the memory set at by default 2.5 volts? If I increase the memory voltage, would there be any side effects? Also, I don't think this M/B "poops" out after 150 mhz system bus. Sorry for all the questions, but I am new to overclocking as I have pointed out. Thanks again, Tom

 

[bilydkid1970]

It's been awhile since I looked

I own a P4S533, and it's been awhile since I looked at bios settings available, but I do think a 3:4 cpu:mem ratio is available at FSB settings below 133mhz - the purpose being to run DDR266(133mhz) memory at 100mhz fsb. I'd be surprised to find that not to be an option. I could be wrong. If anybody cares enough to argue about it, I'll take the time to actually look and see.

Back to the topic at hand:

When I was tweaking my system for maximum performance, when I would play fast and loose with my memory timings, OS hard drive corruption was the end result, losing bits and pieces as well as corrupting windows' files.

Also, at 125mhz your PCI freq is 41.66mhz versus a stock freq of 33mhz. I recall Larva detailing PCI freq as possibly not the notorious cause of hard drive instability it is sometimes made out to be, but you might want to bump your FSB up to 133mhz so your PCI freq drops back down to 33mhz where the 1/4 factor first kicks in.

In a nutshell

1. check your memory timings and cpu/mem ratio
2. bump that fsb up to 133mhz to force the pci freq back down to 33mhz

If those 2 items don't alleviate your problems, start increasing voltages.

You never specified what type of memory you're using. That's important information we need if we're gonna help you out.

What type of memory???

Brand, speed, CAS rating.

PEACE!
~BdK

 

[TommyDee291]

Thanks for the response. We already figured out the Harddrive corruption problem. It was caused by my overclock to 2.25 ghz (125 FSB) resulting in my pci bus at 41 mhz which caused it. The issue at hand now is that I believe my power supply isn't enough power to go to 2.4 ghz (133 fsb) because it will not post, even though my memory, video card, and proc can handle it. I simply have too many components in my system. Check out the Storage forum for my post there as well as the Power forum for my post there. My Ram btw, its Kingston 2100 DDR with a CAS rating of 2.5 although i've tweaked that abit and runs fine overclocked and at 2.0 cas. I've check out other people with the same memory and they said its capable of 400 mhz.

 

[bilydkid1970]

Don't write off your psu just yet. Try a VID pin mod. That usually helps.

Read up on the VID pin mod. It's as simple as dropping a single tiny "U" shaped strand of wire into 2 adjacent holes in your CPU's socket. That's all I did, and it worked great.

In a nutshell, your cpu doesn't see the BIOS cpu voltage settings initially, but with a VID pin mod, your CPU sees those higher voltages initially and can often boot at higher freqs.

-BdK

 

[bilydkid1970]

That PC2100 is DDR266. I'd say running it at DDR400 speeds is asking a lot of it.

Your hard drive corruption COULD be from out of spec PCI freqs. But I think running PC2100 at PC3200 speeds at CAS2 is a bit too much to hope for and way to much to expect.

My suggestion would be to run your RAM at the same speed as your CPU in a 1:1 (same as 3:3 if that's the actual BIOS setting) ratio with relaxed timings. At 133 mhz, nothing is out of spec except your CPU.

If your PC won't boot, do the VID pin mod, and it should boot after that.

Before doing the VID pin mod, unhook every peripheral except for your OS hard drive to see if you're numerous drives are indeed loading down your PSU. If it still won't boot stably at 133mhz, I'd definitely eliminate any suspicions of those drives loading down the PSU.

After doing that, the VID pin mod is all that remains to attempt. Shoot for a VID pin mod of 1.7 vdc and you should be fine.

~BdK

 

[TommyDee291]

Thanks for replying. But I have already prooved that its my Power Supply. And I am not running my ram at 2 CAS. Its at 2.5 CAS as all as 4 4 7. The RAM is quite stable. I ran many many stress tests on that. I also tested to see if it was my power supply by unpluging my case fan, hdd fan, and all but one of my hdd's. And it successfully posted at 2.4 gig. Also, I kept on plugging back in components to see how much it could take until it wouldn't post. I was able to get every thing back in until my last harddrive. Proving that it isn't enough enough power. Thanks for your reply though.

 

[bilydkid1970]

There you have it! Glad to see that 2.4ghz wasn't a problem for you. Did you try bumping that fsb up to 150mhz????

How many watts is your PSU rated for, what make of PSU is it???

-BdK

 

[TommyDee291]

I Didn't try a 150 fsb and my Power Supply is a 350 watt Allied. Yes I know, horrible Power Supply. People have just told me this, lol.